LDV16

WILHEM LATCHOUMIA 17 Two original compositions by Wagner, five pieces inspired by his operas, three of them by Tristan und Isolde : Wilhem Latchoumia’s programme forms an edifice at once unique and coherent, of which the artist gives an epic interpretation, full of rich timbres, which will appeal to both Wagnerites and connoisseurs of pianistic rarities. How you did get the idea of this Wagner programme? Wilhem Latchoumia: It all started with a request from the Palazzetto Bru Zane in Venice, which asked me to devise a programme focusing on Wagner to mark the bicentenary of his birth in 2013. The conception demanded a great deal of research and reflection onmy part. I took asmy starting point Liszt’s transcription of Isolde’s Liebestod , but alsoHugoWolf’smuchmore rarely performed paraphrase on themes from Die Walküre . It so happened that, four or five years before this, I had bought Wolf’s complete piano music on Internet, more or less by chance. I had read through the Walküre paraphrase quickly, saying tomyself that one day I would play it.